An "Un-churchy" Dress to "Churchy" Skirt

Anyone who has gone shopping with me before knows that I am a definite bargain hunter. I have always been the sort of girl who goes straight to the sale rack and then might meander around the rest of the store if nothing suitable was found on sale. I worked at Target in college and realized way too quickly that stuff can be so overpriced and it will all eventually be marked down anyway; so why buy it full-price?! Unfortunately though, one problem that I do run into is that this bargain-hunting-girl is completely average in every fashion way possible: size 8 shoe, medium shirts/tops, size 6 pants, even in bra size... I think I fit the "average" category in all of those areas.

This summer I was bargain hunting at an outlet and found this cute little sundress. I loved the print and then I looked at the price tag: $4.00. WOW! I couldn't believe that it was seriously only FOUR dollars! Score.

Plus, I will go ahead and make this statement.....

{Black + colorful floral = a winner in my fashion book}

As much as I loved the price and the print, the style of the top was just a little toooo revealing and it was definitely not church appropriate {or school appropriate for this teacher}. I even tried it with a sweater or a jacket on over it and it just didn't look right. I will spare you the pictures of it on my person.

I decided to try my sewing hand at a dress-turned-skirt transformation...

{Before}

^^ The top part was just a little too... Not there?

^^ Good riddance to the top 1/3 or so.

{I guess I wasted $1.33 of the $4.00. Ha.}

After cutting off the top, I only sewed a strip of elastic into the inside of the top hem to help it keep its shape and give it a clean edge on the top. After trying it on, I really should have cinched it a bit tighter with the elastic, but I think it works ok.

Dunnn duh duh DUN!

This week, I wore this to church on Sunday night and to school today! It's super comfortable and I decided that I like the way it looks with a shirt tucked in. It was kind of hard to find a shirt to go with it, so I may have to explore some more sale racks to find another top!

No more slinky spaghetti straps. It is also a good transition piece for summer --> fall. :)

It's good to know, that when cute clothes aren't quite to your liking, you can get them anyway and tweak them just a bit to make them perfect for you!

A File Cabinet DIY

Yesterday was my ideal kind of Saturday. We slept in, ate breakfast, and didn't have any plans. I don't know how long it has been since we had a free weekend and I was thankful for it!

After much careful thought and consideration on what we would spend our time doing for the day, we remembered that Ty had purchased this used file cabinet in Springfield at a thrift store and it needed a little t/l/c. He has been working on setting up a home office and has needed a file cabinet to store some of his super important documents.... {Like fantasy football draft records? I'm not positive.}

It was a great find; he found it at the Habitat for Humanity store and only paid $15.00 for the thing because the lock was locked and there was no key with it. So, not only did he get this for $15, he also now had an excuse to break into something with his high-powered man tools!!!

He successfully removed the lock and wah-la! {We even got three bonus hanging file folders. Score.}

So here is what we're working with before the updates took place:

{Uggg-uh-leee.}

Being the expert spray-painter that I am, I was nominated by my better half to be the one to do the painting. I used a can of Krylon oil-rubbed-bronze paint that we already had {see below}. I removed the hardware on the drawers, washed it down to remove any dust or other unknown substances and got to spraying paint...

After several extremely hot minutes in the garage...

and {a little while later} a few minutes to re-install the hardware on the drawers...

here is the finished product:

I had to catch Ty, as he was already hauling it inside to his office when I stopped him so I could take a pic! What a difference!! The best part? We saw some new ones at Staples this exact size for ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS. Whaaaaat?! That's nuts.

The drawer labels: "important." & "not important." ;)

I hope you had a fun and happy Saturday, too.